


The Magical Orphanage

by orphan_account



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Human, Children, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Hurt Anxiety | Virgil Sanders, Hurt/Comfort, Kinda, Light Angst, Minor Injuries, all the sides are hurt actually, amnesia virgil, that is more implied though, the sides are little children, there is a lot of things being implied
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-26
Updated: 2020-03-30
Packaged: 2021-02-26 04:13:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,184
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21977143
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: In a world of magic, fairies and dragons, misfortune find us at every step. So how, pray tell, are the lost and abandoned supposed to live when no one else will care for them? It’s quite simple really. They can head to the Brookden Orphanage, there they will be taken in with open arms.
Relationships: Dr. Emile Picani/Sleep | Remy Sanders, Platonic LAMP, implied more than actually shown
Kudos: 19





	1. Welcome to the Orphanage, little one

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is also cross posted on my Tumblr so here's the original post for the AU which is also the first chapter https://toviitaffee.tumblr.com/post/189880731224/welcome-to-brookden-little-one  
> This book will ONLY follow the main story, any of the side stories will remain exclusive to my Tumblr. Also, feel free to give me suggestions regarding any side stories or send asks about the AU there too!  
> I sincerely hope you will enjoy this story that hopefully will get somewhere and not end up being ditched.

When the young boy opened his eyes, he wasn’t really sure what he should be expecting. His head hurt just enough to show that he probably hit it really really hard but he didn’t know how or where that happened. Did he hurt it while playing? Did he trip over? Maybe someone kidnapped him?! Oh Gods was he going to ever see his family again? The next question that the boy asked himself correlated in a way with the first observation he made about not knowing what to expect when he woke up - just who were his family?

  


What he did see through unfocused vision was the tips of his violet or maybe they were brown hair and an unfamiliar wooden ceiling. The boy blinked a couple times. When that failed to help as much as he’d like to, he sat up and began to rub at his faulty eyes with tiny fists before blinking a couple more times for good measure. At least that got rid of the blurriness. It didn’t get rid of the nagging pain behind the eyes though. Or was it at the back of his head? It was then that he realised almost everything hurt in one way or another. He looked around, hoping to find someone to help him understand why it all hurt. Eyes swept across a small room in quick, slightly panicked motions. Everything was wood or stone. Well, except the bedding and the tapestry slung over the window in an imitation of a curtain. There seemed to be some light streaking through said tapestry but it was far from enough to make out anything more than vague shapes in the room. It terrified him.

  


Just before full blown panic settled in instead of the muffled sobs the boy tried to keep in, the door opened allowing more light in. He knew that someone, somewhere told him he was a big boy that should keep his fear to himself to make sure the monsters won’t try and get him, but he didn’t even remember the tone of voice in which he heard it. The boy was trying to mask the tears that managed to escape by wiping his face with the sleeves of the shirt he had on but it did nothing about the stinging in his eyes that was probably visible to the man that now stood in the door, holding a lamp in one hand and something else in the other. The boy peeked through a gap between his arms to look at the man. He was tall, very much so, with dark hair and dark glasses over his eyes. Why would someone use something to see better and tint it dark? Let alone wear it in the dark! This could only mean that the man was some sort of monster that was sensitive to light and could see perfectly fine with no light whatsoever. Then what was the lamp for? To scare him one last time before he was devoured in a single bite? The man remained in the door frame, potentially staring right at the young boy with his mouth slightly opened.

  


“Ughhhh oh shit. I totally did not expect to see you like, awake yet, kid. Shit, I wasn’t meant to swear, Emile will absolutely murder me. Lovely. Fuck I did it again. Shit. Fuck. Ahhhh. Ok I’m just going to shut the hell up and you’ll pretend you didn’t hear a word of that, alright?” the man spoke. His hands were gesturing quite wildly despite both being occupied. The boy didn’t really know how to respond. Demons didn’t feel bad for saying bad words in front of young children did they? Maybe the man had magic that made his eyes sensitive. Nothing really made sense right now so maybe if he was nice to the man things would somehow end up alright? With the decision made, the boy took a deep breath as he lowered his arms before nodding slightly.

  


“Great! Now, I’ll just go grab the one that is actually good with kids and he’ll talk to you because I still don’t know why that man trusts me around children. You just stay here for a sec, gurl, and it’ll all be good,” he spoke again, this time with a grimace that showed some of his teeth. There were no fangs involved so the possibility of the man being a demon or a monster was definitely declining. He turned to leave, placing the lamp on a table that wasn’t all that visible before the room was lit up. At least the room wasn’t dark when he was left alone again after the door shut. 

  


The boy decided that the room deserved another look around now that it was more than just shapes or formless blobs of grey. The tapestry that covered the window wasn’t all that intricate but it wasn’t simple either. It seemed to be depicting some sort of magic user, helping a village of some sort. The bedding in which he slept was a simple pale blue, the only other coloured thing besides the tapestry. Everything else was in similar shades of brown or grey from the abundance of wood and stone across the room. The walls, the floors, the bed frame, the little table, the dresser, the mirror… The young boy was immediately drawn towards the rectangular object with a plethora of questions running through his head. He slid off the side of the double bed and slowly half walked, half waddled until he was stood in front of the mirror. His head was more focused on the ground and his bare feet that were soaking up the cold from the wood beneath them. Then he got the courage to look at the figure that was looking back at him.

  


He was definitely a small kid, maybe a bit scrawny but by no means starved. Not in appearance at least. The shirt he had on definitely didn’t belong to him, it reached way past his knees and it turned out the sleeves have been cuffed multiple times just to make sure they wouldn’t restrict his hands. His hair was a mess, both in style with curls sticking up in every direction and the mixed brown and violet colours that had no real pattern in distribution. Purple and green eyes stared back once he decided to examine those too. Huh, two different eyes weren’t the norm, were they? He tried to avert his eyes from the purple, green and blue splotches that covered his entire body that wasn’t covered by the clothing. The temptation to take off the shirt to see just how bad the bruises and scrapes were was strong but it disappeared almost the second the door creaked for the second time that day as it was opened.

  


“Oh, sweetheart you should not have left the bed just yet! We don’t know how hurt you are and we wouldn’t want to make it worse now, would we?” said another man who must’ve been the one the previous one was on about. He moved quickly through the room but not quick enough to startle the young boy whose eyes returned to looking down at his feet. He was also tall, yet shorter than the previous man. There was no more odd looking glasses or dark hair, instead normal, thinly framed spectacles covered kind, brown eyes from below a mop of curly, caramel hair. In an instant, he was kneeling beside the boy, gently turning his smaller frame to face the adult instead of the mirror. The boy complied in movement but his eyes did not rise.

  


“Well, you don’t seem too hurt except for those scrapes but those will heal soon enough. Now, how about you tell me your name and where you’re from?” the man asked after having a look at the child in front of him. The man wasn’t sure what to think. The boy was definitely still very young, but it wasn’t new for him to see kids beaten and bloody, not with the kids that crossed paths with him in this very house. The boy seemed to think for a little bit, brows furrowed in concentration as his expression changed from hurt puppy to something along the lines of frustration at the spot he was glaring at.

  


“Virgil… I think,” the little boy replied. He struggled to recall his name, but shouldn’t that be the easiest thing to remember? Virgil was definitely just as confused about his situation as the man seemed to be. Something that the boy only realised when he allowed himself a glance up only to see confusion laced concern pass through the kneeling man’s face. It quickly disappeared though as their eyes met. He also noticed the man with the dark glasses once again standing in the door frame.

  


“Virgil huh? It’s a nice name kiddo! I’m Emile and that over there is Remy, can you tell us anything else you know about yourself?” Emile asked, his hand reaching to run through Virgil’s messy hair. It didn’t seem like he was trying to fix it though, more like he was looking for something that shouldn’t be there. Virgil couldn’t tell if he found anything, Emile was really good at not showing what he thought when he knew the boy could see. Virgil was trying to think of anything to tell the man. It was obvious he meant well and he would help him. It was just that he couldn’t even remember how old he was. He remembered being proud when his birthday came around but if he was three, four or maybe even five, he couldn’t tell. So Virgil shook his head slightly, choosing the non-verbal answer despite the ache in his head. Talking hurt more.

  


“Why’s that Virgil? No one is going to hurt you if you tell us, promise,” Emile continued with the questions. Remy moved to sit on the bed, just behind Emile, putting a reassuring hand over the shorter man’s shoulder. They shared a look Virgil didn’t understand before they both returned their eyes to him.

  


“It’s not that I… don’t want to. I do! It… hurts to think. And talk,” Virgil murmured, diverting his eyes to the floor once again. His hands began to fidget with the hem of the shirt, tugging at the end of it and weaving it in between his small fingers. Emile then decided that the child before him trusted him well enough for now. With that decision made, he picked Virgil up and held him delicately yet still close to him. Comfort, Virgil realised, Emile was trying to comfort him. For some reason that caused some sort of damn inside the boy to brake. The pain, the strange room, the unknown yet kind men and the oh so irritating lack of memory. It all came crashing into one huge wave of tears and wails. 

  


For a moment, Virgil thought that the pain just went away with that but that couldn’t have been right. He clung closer to Emile and sure enough, that was where the warmth and the soothing chill were both simultaneously coming from. It was a familiar warmth for some reason. A warmth that Virgil learned to associate with Magic. Was it his magic or was it someone else’s? Virgil wasn’t even sure if he had magic of his own, causing the seemingly never ending turmoil inside of his head to worsen. The boy vaguely registered the two adults speaking to each other before another soothing aura was enveloping him and sleep began to welcome him in it’s dark embrace once more.

  


When the boy opened his eyes once again, the room was much brighter than previously and the much too big shirt had been replaced with clothes that were much closer to his real size. The tapestry must’ve been moved away from the window and he must’ve been changed while he slept. Virgil decided to sit up before trying to clear his vision once more, noting that sitting up definitely hurt much less than it did before. Everything hurt much less.

  


What Virgil also acknowledged was the fact that his curls somehow became even more untamed. It was as if the hair had a mind of it’s own and it was deciding to blind the poor boy. A frustrated pout formed on his face as he shoved a hand through the mess in an attempt to pull it back. An attempt that proved fruitless as the hair simply fell right back down to where it previously was, obstructing the boy’s vision once more. Virgil groaned at the lack of obedience his own hair decided to show only to be met with a giggle that was definitely not his own.

  


Virgil tensed, eyes rapidly moving from one corner to the other to try and spot the source of giggling. Suddenly, there was another boy in his face with freckles all over and glasses similar to Emile’s. The boy was a few years older than Virgil but had a similar messy situation with annoyingly curly hair that was a lot lighter than anyone else’s Virgil has observed since waking up for the first time in this room. He was also the only person he saw with blue eyes so far in the day. Or did he sleep for more than just a couple of hours?

  


“Hi! You’re Virgil, right? I’m Patton and I’m your new friend. No argument about that. We’re gonna have a ton of fun together alright?” the boy, Patton, said very rapidly. It was almost too quick for Virgil to understand all of it, but he managed. For some reason, the younger boy’s apprehension disappeared, only to be replaced by an excitement that didn’t quite feel like his own but it wasn’t foreign either.

  


“Alright,” Virgil answered with a small smile, not really sure how else he should answer to the older boy. Patton slid off the bed, offering one hand to help Virgil and also to lead them away from the now familiar room. Virgil did follow after Patton to the best of his ability but with his hand held by a very excited boy who was half dragging him by this point, it was hard to stay on two feet when the world still tried to be spinny. It seemed that Patton noticed after the third time Virgil almost nose dived into the wooden floor and decided to slow the pace.

  


“Emile had to go out to the town for something, he didn’t say what which is kinda weird but that doesn’t matter. Either way, he tasked me with making sure you’re comfortable here and that you’re alright. I usually do that sort of stuff. I’m really good around other people, or at least Logan says so. Oh! Logan is one of my friends here. We’re gonna go meet him and Roman so you have more than just me as a friend!” Patton half explained half rambled as he led Virgil down the stairs and into a common area of some sort. Sure enough, two other boys were in the room. The older one with black, straight hair and glasses identical to Patton was reading a book by the fireplace while the other boy, younger but still potentially older than Virgil was playing with a wooden sword. He had light brown hair with small streaks of red or orange and a slightly darker skin tone than the other boys.

  


“Patton! You’re back from your mission to retrieve the warlock from his tower!” The younger one exclaimed, running straight for Patton the second he saw them. Virgil, regardless of the excitement he seemed to keep despite the nerves, chose to hide slightly behind Patton.

  


“Indeed I have, Roman!” Patton giggled with the younger boy before turning to Virgil, “this is Roman, he’s our resident prince and the best person to play pretend with. And that’s Logan, he’s the scholar so if you want to know a lot of cool facts he has like almost all of them! Guys, this is Virgil!” Patton explained, gesturing to each boy as he made the introductions. Roman bowed in response to his while Logan simply nodded in acknowledgement before going back to his book.

  


After that, things seemed to settle for a while. Patton ran off to play with Roman. They were still in the room but they were much too active for Virgil, who was still very much so tired despite being asleep for who knows how long, to join in. They both invited him to play but he declined with a ‘maybe another day. I just want to rest today because everything hurt earlier’. The two older boys had much less practice at hiding concern while Roman didn’t even catch on that he should’ve been concerned. Or if he did, he didn’t show anything about it. With playing out of the question, Virgil struggled for something to do. He was just sitting by the fire, watching Roman try to save Patton from a dragon.

  


He must’ve looked particularly miserable as Logan kept sneaking glances at him. Or maybe the oldest boy simply knew that the youngest one was itching for an activity despite being too tired for a more active thing to to. Regardless of what gave him away, when Logan noticed him glancing back, he made a gesture to beckon Virgil to sit with him on the comfy chair that was just big enough for them both to sit. And Virgil did. He was, afterall, looking for something to do. Patton did say Logan was smart, maybe he could help figure out what to do.

  


“Can you read yet, Virgil?” Logan asked once the younger boy was settled, half leaning against the older boy’s side. He wasn’t quite sure if he could get nestled into Logan’s side without both of them getting uncomfortable at the close contact of someone they don’t quite know. However there was no way of avoiding contact whatsoever.

  


“A little. I don’t think it’s much though,” Virgil answered quietly. He wanted to pull his knees closer to his chest but that meant creating even less space for Logan. Something he did not want to do at all.

  


“I could teach you a little more, if you’d like?” Logan offered, glancing at Virgil and adjusting the glasses to fit better on his face. Virgil smiled back and nodded at the opportunity. He could already tell that he was far from a child that liked being boisterous. He’d say he’s more like Logan, sitting in the corner doing something calm and only half joining in the more ambitious games and activities. So that was how they spent their afternoon. Logan was slowly teaching Virgil, who was by no means a bad student, to read. Roman had managed to save Patton and they moved onto another game of pretend, sometimes involving the reading duo as the wise-men who assisted them in their adventures. All in all, this was not a bad start to Virgil’s new life at Brookden Orphanage.


	2. A Beginning of a New Life

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Virgil finds himself in a tiny predicament when he wakes up on his first proper day at the Orphanage which leads the young boy to learn a few things about his new place of residence

That night, the same day that he remembers meeting his new friends, Virgil didn't find himself sleeping in the room he initially woke up in. He learned that it was Remy and Emile's room and he was only there because both adults were too worried to have him anywhere else in the house. Instead, Virgil was sleeping in one of the four other rooms reserved specifically for the children at the orphanage. Patton referred to is as the younger boys' room and all three of his new friends were also there along with three other boys Virgil hadn't yet met. There were a lot of children there that Virgil had yet to meet. If he had to be honest, he was surprised that this place functioned as well as it seemed with only two adults. One of which claimed to be a disaster at taking care of children.

The point was, the next day, Virgil once again woke up in confusion as he woke up in an unfamiliar room. Sure, he was told about sleeping there over dinner the previous night but he hasn't actually been in the room. He fell asleep in the common space that he, Logan, Patton and Roman have been occupying once again before it was bedtime. The only blessing was that their room was bright as soon as he woke up. Or bright enough at least. It seemed that it was still early morning, as some colours were much too dull for it to suggest the sun was fully past its rise. Despite the early hour, Virgil knew he would not go back to sleep again. He slept quite enough in the last day. Yet, he didn't exactly know what to do with himself. Everyone else in the room seemed to be still sleeping and Virgil wasn't about to wake anyone up just because he didn't know what to do.

The boy ended up laying in his new bed for what seemed like hours. Still, not a soul in the room so much as stirred. Even the sun looked as if it hadn't moved even an inch from the last time Virgil managed to get an idea as to where it is. This was taking too long. He couldn't just stay in bed for much longer. No, the time would definitely go too slow for his liking. Besides, he really needed a drink. He'd been told that if he ever needed one, he should just go down to the kitchen and ask for one but would anyone else be awake to help with that? There was only one way to find out and that is exactly what Virgil did.

It was surprisingly easy to slide out of the bed, make his way to the door and slip out of the room with making as little noise as humanly possible. Virgil immediately decided that he liked how stealthy he was. The house was bright enough for the boy to make out most of the shapes and some of the colour but it was by no means bright. A small, anxious part of the boy's brain screamed at Virgil to turn back to the bed, however he already made it this far, might as well go all the way.

Virgil's quiet steps were a bit more hurried in the hallways of the house as he made his way down the stairs and in the direction of the kitchen. Still, no noise betrayed if anyone else in the house was also up and about. He made it to the door with no issues and took a deep breath before slowly pushing the heavy wood forward. At first, Virgil only poked his head through the gap to scan the kitchen for anything. The kitchen may have been empty but the door to the cellar was open. That meant that it was either foolishly left open the previous night or someone was in fact awake. The boy slid fully into the room and headed for the small table. He climbed up onto one of the chairs and decided to wait for someone to show up. It's not like he knew where to get that drink anyway.

It wasn't more than a few seconds when a quiet voice startled the young boy. "And what do we have here, hmm? One of the little kids up so early? Girl, you should still be napping upstairs," the voice that Virgil recognised to be Remy's spoke. Remy had a ‘peculiar diction’ as Logan said but Virgil didn't really have any trouble understanding what the adult ment either way. 

"I just woke up," Virgil said with a shrug of his shoulders. "I guess I slept a lot yesterday so I didn't need as much now. Can I have a drink, please?" The boy added for clarification, tagging on the request as more of an afterthought than anything else. Remy smiled at the child, messing up his already messy hair before busying himself with the cabinets as Virgil watched, small hands attempting to soothe the bird’s nest on his head into something that actually resembles human hair.

"Makes complete sense if you ask me," Remy said, placing a mug filled with some water in front of Virgil while he himself leaned onto the table. "You slept well?" The man added after a while when the child had a chance to sip on the water enough to satisfy his thirst. The boy merely nodded, keeping his hands wrapped around his cup.

"That's great. Now, I should probably like, explain the whole orphanage thing that me and Emile do here. So, I will do that but you hold off the questions until the end, you got me?" Remy asked, moving between the kitchen counter and back to the table. This time, he had a drink of his own. One that Virgil had no idea what it was. But the boy nodded regardless to show he understood the words and that he wouldn't ask questions before Remy was finished telling the story.

"Great! So, the start huh? Well, first thing first, this ain't a normal orphanage. Or, well. It is but it isn't," the man began with his explanations, almost already losing Virgil with the first sentence. "We work mostly like a normal orphanage but the kids that end up here usually have some sort of magical ability. Not many usual places for kids will take in young mages. They say it's like, risky or something? I don't know and don't get them anyways. Either way, basically every kid here has magic. Except Logan, but the non mages all think his genius is too weird for it not to be magic related so he stays with us. He's better off here than with those idiots across the town anyway. That's simple enough to understand, yeah? Me and Emile just raise the magical kids to not wreck complete havoc with their powers," Remy said, finishing with a deep breath and an eye roll that Virgil just managed to catch from behind the slightly lowered glasses.

"Does that mean that you and Mr. Emile also have magic?" Virgil said, voicing the first question that popped into his head. He had many despite the easily understandable concept that Remy described.

"Yeah we do! Someone with no magic would be useless at teaching something they don't understand. We have to have magic to help the kids understand themselves, duh," Remy answered with a half amused half deadpan voice. It was an odd combination of tones, something that Virgil didn't know if anyone else but Remy could pull off.

"Well. If I'm here, does that mean  _ I'm _ magic?" Virgil asked, tilting his head to the side as he stared down at the little bit of water that remained in his cup that was still held in between his hands.

"I don't know, are you?" Remy replied, raising an eyebrow as he watched the young boy besides him. Virgil could only shrug. So much of his knowledge of himself was missing. It made him frustrated, so much so that he began to squeeze the cup as a subconscious action. His brows furrowed. 

"I know that when others use magic it feels warm, like when Mr. Emile did when I first woke up or when Patton did when we were playing," Virgil muttered, still focusing on the cup and the drink inside it. Remy hummed in response, taking a sip of his mysterious drink before he sighed in satisfaction.

"Well you probably came in contact with magic before then, as for Patton, the poor kid still needs to figure out how to control his magic without it bursting out. At least it’s harmless as long as its happy emotions and not… anything negative," Remy mumbled. He seemed to be talking more to himself than Virgil at that point but the boy still heard every word. All that followed for the next couple of minutes was silence as Remy finished his drink and Virgil messed around a little with his mug without actually risking breaking it. The silence between the two was only lifted when two new figures appeared at the door.

"There you are Virge! Wow it's so weird having another kid wake up before me. It's usually just me up out of the kiddos at this hour. You'd think Logan would be an early riser too but no, he sleeps until later because he always stays up doing his scholar stuff that no one else really gets. Roman and the rest of the younger kids are always really tired after playing so they sleep a lot. And the older kids always sleep in as much as they can because they have to do all this learning about magic and all the mage professions and stuff! Say, do you want to help us make breakfast? I always help out but I'm sure Emile and Remy won't mind another helping hand! Or two!" Patton jumped into conversation the second he saw Virgil in the kitchen. His hands were all over the place, talking just as much with the gestures as he did with his rushed and excited voice. The other person that walked in, Emile, simply smiled kindly at the two boys before moving off to talk to Remy about one thing or another. Whatever they were talking about, they did so quietly as to not let the children hear.

"Umm, I don't think I usually wake up this early but I can't really tell. And I'd love to help out, if I can," Virgil replied with a small smile spreading onto his features. He could once again feel the excitement that wasn't quite his and for the first time Virgil recognised that it was due to Patton. Or rather, Patton's magic. The younger boy wasn't quite sure of the full extent of Patton's ability was but it seemed to be a kind of empathy ability. Something along the lines of sharing his own emotions with the people around him.

"Patton, I'm glad you're excited to train a new kitchen staff member if he so chooses but please try and remember to keep your magic under control sweetheart, alright?" Emile said with a grin as he turned towards the two boys. "Now, how do pancakes sound for today's breakfast?" The cheerful man added, kneeling in front of the boys as Remy was once again going through the cupboards before disappearing back into the cellar for some extra ingredients. The boys both nodded, each one with a smile gracing their youthful features.

And so the chaos in the kitchen began. Remy and Emile were monitoring the stove, knowing that the young boys, especially Virgil, could accidentally cause harm to themselves with it. Virgil and Patton were making sure there was enough batter to make enough pancakes for everyone. They were all covered in flour and small splatters of the gooey substance as a result of a small war that broke out on accident. Virgil was totally the winner of that one, remaining the cleanest while also having a surprisingly good aim for a four year old. After over an hour, the group of four was giggling over the finished pancakes, ready to serve them to the other children and start a new day. And for Virgil? Oh he was completely ready to begin a new life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well I had this chapter done and ready for a couple of hours but guess who kept forgetting to actually post it. Regardless, I hope you enjoyed it and please leave some comments as to what you think! I would really appreciate it.  
> Reminder that you can check me out on Tumblr for any extra info or side stories from the universe at http://toviitaffee.tumblr.com/


	3. A Day Out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A few weeks have past and it is finally time for Virgil to join the others in helping around the orphanage. Task one? A shopping trip with Logan.

Usually, the winding streets of the market place weren't where young children would be found. Sure, it wasn’t uncommon to see children in the workplace but for one reason or another the market just didn’t have them. Maybe it was a result of several fairy tales about shady merchants who took children away, never to be seen again or the simple mistrust towards a child’s ability to be responsible with money. The latter point made a lot less sense considering that many of said youth are trusted with much more dangerous tools than money but adults really aren’t all that logical when it truly comes down to it. At least Logan said so when Virgil asked why the amount of children seemed to go down the closer they were to the colourful stalls filled with various intriguing items with a fascinating smell of mixed herbs, food and fabrics amongst many other things. A smell was actually the nice way to put it. It was more of a stench which would linger for days on end.

It seemed that Logan and Virgil were the only children with enough courage to enter this mysterious land of overwhelming senses. Well, Logan was the brave one, Virgil was simply already committed to helping Logan, he couldn’t just say he can’t do it. For all he knew, that would make Logan disappointed in him and he really wanted to avoid not meeting the expectations of someone who the younger boy already managed to get so close to. He didn’t want to lose Logan’s calm demeanour and logic that always managed to calm him down throughout the few weeks that Virgil spent at the orphanage. So Virgil pushed past the fear by grabbing onto Logan’s hand and using the excuse that he didn’t want to get lost in the crowd. 

The crowd itself was a view to behold. People swiftly sliding in between each other, like the rush of a river if it could flow in more than one direction at a time. The better way to describe it would probably be to compare it to the air that constantly swivelled around them. The chatter reached far and wide yet not much of it was anything that Virgil could understand as it all just blurred into one loud buzz of noise. Various colours and fabrics kept brushing past the two boys. A dull blue skirt there, a pale green coat here, or maybe the various grays of sweeping cloaks of different lengths all around. It was a lot. Virgil found that maybe there was another potential reason why children didn’t dare enter the market. Maybe they were just smart enough to avoid getting crushed like a snail beneath all these trampling feet. Adults always claim to be oh so more organised than children yet Virgil couldn't help muttering that the children at the orphanage, those who were supposed to be the most disorganised of all, could manage to be more sensible than the shoppers and vendors around them.  
“Ah, so we share that sentiment huh?” Logan murmured back to the unsuspecting Virgil. The younger boy didn’t think he was heard but one look at Logan said that maybe he shouldn’t have been as worried about speaking his mind. After all, if Logan was smiling, that meant there’s no way he said anything wrong.  
“Adults are peculiar creatures, even if they are simply our older counterparts. Then again, hardly any of them are properly educated, shame really but that is the world we live in unfortunately,” Logan added after a little while, adjusting his glasses and facing ahead once more and tugging gently at their intertwined hands to keep on going. 

“Why are we here anyway? I mean, Emile probably explained but I got a bit… distracted and it would be nice to know what to keep my eyes peeled for, right?” The younger boy enquired, tugging at the strings of his own cloak with his free hand. ‘Distracted’ was one word to describe what happened. He doesn’t really remember how he got from the main room where Emile was giving out chores to about a ten minute walk from the market. It’s a good thing that Logan isn’t one for constant chatter like Patton because it was easy to slowly adjust to his consciousness again without alerting anyone about being sort of gone in the first place. The worst part about the entire experience is that he is aware of what happened, of the sounds and sights, they just make very little sense in context to time. It was something that was difficult to explain even to himself. That and the pressure on his chest and constant shivers that ran across his body even now despite it being relatively warm.

“Just some writing equipment, a few herbs for the stores, fresh produce and the like. Oh and a gift for Annalease, she’s one of the older girls and she’s leaving the orphanage tomorrow,” Logan listed off, glancing at a piece of paper he pulled out of one of his many pockets. Much to Virgil’s relief, he didn’t even mention anything about the boy’s distant mind. Virgil had a feeling that Logan knew though, regardless of what he said or rather didn’t say. The older boy had that sort of look in his eye that wasn’t quite concern but it definitely hid some sort of knowledge and feeling about Virgil’s state from a few minutes ago. Nonetheless, Virgil was extremely grateful it wasn’t brought up now. He was also starting to understand why some people thought that Logan held some magical power. It sometimes seemed as if the older boy could actually read minds when in reality he was just extremely observant of the most miniscule details.

“Alright!” Virgil said, some of the fear having turned into excitement along the way. It didn’t negate the slight tremor in the boy’s voice. No, that didn’t seem to be getting away for another while yet. “Isn’t this usually Remy’s job though? Going out to buy things?” Virgil added the question after a few moments of silence between the two. His heterochromatic eyes looking up to meet with the ocean blue ones that belonged to Logan.

“It is, however Remy doesn’t always have time to do this so sometimes one of us, usually me for some reason, does the shopping. As far as I’m aware, Remy is trying to see if he can find any information as to where you are from and why you were in the river,” Logan explained, his eyes then narrowing as he struggled to see a far away object even with the spectacles over his eyes. When the eyes widened to a normal level once more, the two boys changed their direction, signalling that Logan found one of the things on their list. Virgil simply nodded in response. He was extremely curious about why Remy was still bothering trying to find out anything about him. The past two times either he or Emile tried to find answers only brought on more questions. Mainly, there was the biggest one they were all aware of from the beginning of this whole situation. Did Virgil possess any magical ability. Funnily enough, that would give a lot more answers than his name or appearance which were already unique enough. Basically every adult in the land knows that those with potential to become powerful mages are most likely of noble birth and those who don’t hold a shred of magical intuition like Logan tend to be as far away from the nobility as possible. Then again, using Logan and his biological line as an example again as he was from a quite favourable family that was just a step away from nobility, it doesn’t always follow that rule. Exceptions will always exist in nature.

Virgil got quite caught up in his thoughts. So much so that he almost ran into Logan’s back when he came to a stop over a stall filled with various gemstones. This wasn’t specifically on the list meaning they stopped there for Annalease and her parting gift. Virgil’s eyes ran over the gems. There were so many of them, all varying in colour size and shape. It didn’t seem like there were any two gems alike. Some looked like they could probably cut him quite deeply if he wasn’t careful and others were probably smoother than anything he could possibly think of.

“What’s Annalease’s favourite colour?” Virgil asked, glancing between Logan and the gems, “I think I know some of their meanings and associations and meaningful gifts are the best kind of gift,” he added soon after. Logan looked down at Virgil with an eyebrow raised in curiosity. After all, gemstone meanings aren’t exactly common knowledge.

“Green or blue.Truth be told I can never tell with that woman so it could be different,” Logan answers with a sigh but that’s all that Virgil needed to look across the table and point at a bluish green shaped gem the size of a small button. Logan nodded to the vendor to enquire about the details of the stone. After all, it’s not like they could spend a fortune they didn’t really have on one person.

“Good eye child, Alexandrites are quite well received with women with how their colour changes. Fascinating, right?” The man said with a raspy voice that was probably one of the consequences of being in the sales business. Virgil nodded in agreement, his eyes shining with a new kind of passion that Logan had yet to see.

“Mmhm! And they have a really cool meaning too! It’s intuition, creativity and imagination, right?” Virgil chatted to the man before Logan could even try to speak again. “Huh, that kind of sounds like Roman, it’ll suit Annalease well then considering they are freakishly similar in personality,” the boy added quietly, the words meant for Logan this time rather than the vendor. There was something about the way Virgil said that that implied there was something else he wanted to say. The man was nodding at the boy once he fell silent again but after that Virgil didn’t pay attention to the conversation between Logan and the man which did thankfully result in a new necklace for their fellow orphan.  
Soon, the boys moved on in silence, Logan’s concern visible on his face yet Virgil was oblivious to it. He was in his own world, not here but not quite anywhere else at the same time. This resulted in a decision being made to drag the two of them into a more quiet part of the market where Virgil could sit down for a minute.

“Is everything alright, Virgil?” Logan enquired, sitting down next to Virgil and passing some water he brought with him for the journey to the boy. Virgil didn’t protest the silent command to drink, taking a few sips before passing it back to Logan and shrugging his shoulders.

“It’s just… I know that someone taught me about the gems and I know they were really important to something about that person or maybe another person but it’s frustrating not to actually know what’s going on in my head and who those people and voices are,” Virgil whispered. Logan hummed in understanding, placing a comforting hand on the younger boy’s shoulder while adding a mental note to pass this information on to the adults. And tell Patton to comfort the younger boy once they were back. 

Virgil tried to push the thoughts aside for the remainder of their shopping trip yet it was difficult not to see a familiar yet strange pendant with two yellow gems - Citrine and Topaz.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't mind me being gone for like over a month only to return with a short ish chapter. I was filled with work considering I was supposed to do Final exams this year. Well, considering current world Events, those aren't happening any more so I now have time to write! Hope you enjoyed this filler chapter that is only really necessary to establish a thing and some foreshadowing. One part of it being completely unintentional but I love it regardless. My Tumblr is still open to suggestions for short stories in this AU or questions about it so go find toviitaffee if you want to because I have no idea how links work on this site. See ya in the next one when we finally get into some action I believe!


End file.
